Aphantasia is the inability to visualize. Otherwise known as image-free thinking. People with aphantasia don't create any pictures of familiar objects, people, or places in their mind's eye. Not for thoughts, memories, or images of the future.
Aphantasia is a phenomenon in which people are unable to visualize imagery. While most people are able to conjure an image of a scene or face in their minds, people with aphantasia cannot.
Nothing. Their mind's eye is blank. They experience a neural phenomenon called aphantasia. Aphantasia is a condition in which a person cannot visualize mental images.
People with aphantasia can think about things just fine, but they can't visualize them." You've likely never heard of aphantasia as it's still not a widely recognized, everyday term. But an estimated 2 to 3 percent of people can't form mental imagery.
Aphantasia is the inability to voluntarily create a mental picture in your head. People with aphantasia are unable to picture a scene, person, or object, even if it's very familiar.
Pairwise comparisons indicated that the aphantasia group had a significantly elevated IQ compared with the hyperphantasia group (P = 0.002), but there were no other statistically significant differences.
Aphantasics show elevated autism-linked traits. Aphantasia and autism linked by impaired imagination and social skills. Aphantasia (low imagery) can arise in synaesthesia (usually linked to high imagery). Aphantasic synaesthetes have more 'associator' than 'projector' traits.
“Some individuals with aphantasia have reported that they don't understand what it means to 'count sheep' before going to bed,” said Wilma Bainbridge, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Chicago who recently led a study of the condition, which can be congenital or acquired through trauma.
Recent studies of aphantasia and its neurobehavioral correlates reveal that the majority of aphantasics, whilst unable to produce visual imagery while awake, nevertheless retain the capacity to experience rich visual dreams.
Summary: Aphantasia, a disorder in which people lack the ability to mentally visualize imagery, is also associated with a widespread pattern of changes to other important cognitive processes. Many with aphantasia report a reduced ability to recall past events, imagine the future, and dream.
Overall, the results show that people with aphantasia have less vivid and detailed memories — particularly when it comes to visual details — and this this effect is clear whether they are asked about their experience or tested in more “objective” ways.
There is no research to link aphantasia to other mental health conditions. But if you grew up feeling a bit 'different', then this can lead to depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Recognising you have aphantasia can be a relief, as can explaining the situation to others so they can understand you better.
For example, some individuals with aphantasia report weakness in autobiographical memory, remembrance of events in their lives. In addition, many with aphantasia also suffer from prosopagnosia, impaired face recognition. To Zeman, the links to other conditions indicate that there may be several subgroups of aphantasia.
Aphantasia is the inability to visualize. Otherwise known as image-free thinking. People with aphantasia don't create any pictures of familiar objects, people, or places in their mind's eye. Not for thoughts, memories, or images of the future.
Life with aphantasia
Some might be able to hear a tune in their mind, but not be able to imagine visual images associated with it. Similarly, research has shown that despite the inability to generate on-demand visual imagery, some people with aphantasia may still report experiencing visual imagery within dreams.
A complete lack of visual imagery, recently termed aphantasia, is typically present from birth and is more common in those with affected family members. It is therefore postulated that there is a genetic component to the variation in visual imagery vividness.
Last year, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) found that aphantasia is linked to widespread issues with other cognitive processes, including remembering and dreaming.
Although it may not be considered a recognized disability that requires special education services, educators need to understand the effects of aphantasia on student learning. As someone with congenital aphantasia, this question can be answered with first-hand experience.
Aphantasia is a term that describes a single symptom: the inability to draw up visual images from memory or imagination. This may affect some people with aphantasia in certain ways but not in all people. For example, some people are more likely to have difficulty remembering personal events and recognizing faces.
Scientists aren't sure what causes aphantasia. Most people with this condition are born with it and are otherwise healthy. Others develop it after a brain injury. The ability to create mental images exists on a spectrum.
Many people have had aphantasia since birth, but others have acquired it following a brain injury, or sometimes after periods of depression or psychosis. Some individuals don't dream in images, like Zeman's first patient, but others can, even though they are unable to visualise while they're awake.
Aphantasia is a Gift
Aphantasia is not a hindrance; it is the best possible gift you can have. You have a mind that is naturally quiet and image-less. You don't have a million random thoughts and mental pictures floating through your head distracting you. You do not have to deal with a Monkey Mind.
Despite the differences in object detail, the location and size of objects in the drawings made by aphantasic participants were as accurate as those from participants with typical imagery. Additionally, though aphantasic participants drew fewer objects, they also made fewer mistakes.
People with aphantasia tend to have a higher average IQ (115 compared to the 110 score of the general population) and are less affected by scary stories since they cannot visualize them. As Zeman explains, “it's clearly not a bar to high achievement …
Aphantasia exists on a spectrum, and I am at the far end of it. All five of my senses are affected, thus I cannot recreate any sound or music in my mind, nor can I conjure the other three senses. This is called multisensory aphantasia.